Support for asbestos victim

The case of a Shropshire woman, who is suing for an undisclosed six-figure sum after becoming one of the youngest people in the UK to be diagnosed with mesothelioma, has been given a boost after more people have come forward.

The disease of the abdomen has allegedly been caused by asbestos fall-out from a massive blaze at a Ministry of Defence site in 1983.

The woman is suing the MoD, as well as the company her father worked for.

The Shropshire Star revealed last week that the Telford mother, who is in her early 30s but does not want to be identified, was claiming tens of thousands of pounds in damages from the MoD and Rubery Owen, after she was diagnosed with mesothelioma, a form of cancer associated with exposure to asbestos.

The mother is currently in hospital battling the disease, but doctors have told her she has just weeks or months to live.

She claims her terminal illness was caused by the asbestos fallout from a huge blaze at Central Ordnance Depot Donnington, as it was then known, on June 24, 1983.

Asbestos in the roof of the burning building was scattered over more than 15 sq miles of east Shropshire and more than £165 million damage was caused.

Today, her solicitor Helen Childs, of Reading-based Boyes Turner Solicitors, said they had had a positive response.

Mrs Childs said: "We had somebody e-mail us directly to say he was a witness and a further three people put messages on the Shropshire Star website to say they were there at the time.

"My client is really buoyed up by the responses she has had. We hope to have lots of people along at our meetings next week.

"It really has given my client quite a boost and she is pleased by that."

The woman has told her lawyers she remembers playing in the garden at her Leegomery home as the asbestos fell like "snow". She was just seven when the blaze ripped through the military base.

Anybody who think they may have been affected by the 1983 fire is urged to attend drop-in meetings at Meeting Point House in Telford town centre on Monday and Tuesday from 9am.

By Kirsty Marston